The Visit
by Izumihimechan
Summary: Set in 1952 during the ep. Are you now or have you ever been...? Schyler is one of Angelus's children and her life with Darla and the others is not going well so she comes to L.A. to find her sire.
1. Found You

I stare up at a large building. The sign says The Hyperion Hotel. I blink and push my bangs out of my face.

"Are you _serious_ dad?" I mutter. "Why would you stay in a dump like this?" I smooth the front of my dark blue short-sleeved dress. I walk up to the doors and a bellhop opens them for me.

"Welcome to the Hyperion," he says. I smile easily. It's so funny how these humans can be fooled just because I am girl. I look around the lobby and see the manager and another bellhop. The manager seems to be giving the guy things to send to certain rooms.

"And," the manager finishes handing the bellhop a silver tray with a piece of paper on it. "The weekly bill for 217." The bellhop looks upset at this.

"W...w...why me?" he stammers. "I did it the last time!" The manager doesn't seem to care who did it last time.

"Guy gives me the heebie-jeebies," the bellhop continues "How about instead of this bill I deliver an eviction notice?" The manager shakes his head.

"We can not evict residents on the grounds of the heebie-jeebies," he says."Now, if we did, we'd have to shut down, wouldn't we?"

"Ever look into his eyes?" the bellhop asks. "There's nothing there." The manager laughs at him and the bellhop reluctantly starts across the lobby. I smile, this time feeling the vampire come out in me. So he _is_ here. There is no mistaking it. The bellhop had said that his eyes looked like there was nothing there. He was right. Mostly anyway. I follow the guy into the elevator.

"Going up?" he asks.

"Yes," I reply doing my best to look like an innocent seventeen year old. Of course I am not innocent. Not even a little. But humans can never tell that. I just look like a little girl to them. Long dark brown hair, usually braided down my back, big dark brown eyes, and short for my age. My height makes me appear younger than my "age". Most humans assume that I'm only thirteen or fourteen. In reality I'm sixty-two. I had been turned into a vampire by Angelus, a very feared vampire, when I was seventeen. Back in 1890. That's why I'm here. I'm looking for my sire.

The elevator arrives at the second floor. I step into the hall behind the bellhop. He looks around nervously. I roll my eyes and wander around the corner. I peek back at him. He walks down to a door and knocks softly. He's talking softly and I can care less what he's saying. Really it doesn't interest me. Then he comes hurrying down the hall. I look around the corner again as the elevator doors close. I see a man in a pair of dark slacks and a red shirt hanging open over a white T-shirt. I look up at his face. He looks like he was carved from marble. He has the face of an angel. He has dark brown eyes, like mine, although they looked more troubled than I knew mine did. His dark brown hair is slicked to the side. I smirk.

_I've found you. Angel._


	2. What About Me?

I'm standing in the lobby again. Some humans are watching television. Something about a trail of a "Communist". The guy on trial is denying it. Like they would _actually_ be denying their involvement in the Communist Party. I walk over to the elevator and lean against the wall. Angel had left about half an hour ago. I know where he's gone to and I expect him back at any moment.

"Hello there little girl," a man says. I look up at him.

"Hi," I reply.

"Are you lost? Where're your mom and dad?" The guy keeps treating me as if I'm five. I glare up at him. Resisting the urge to grab him and sink my teeth into him, I smile.

"I'm not lost," I say. "I'm waiting for my dad. He'll be back any minute."

_So go away before I turn you into my dinner._ I add silently. The guy nods and walks away. I roll my eyes. A woman storms past me followed by a man.

"Ah, come on, honey! How do you think Lana Turner got started?" he cries. The woman leaves. I watch her and smile when I see who has just come in.

"Daddy's home," I whisper in a singsong voice. My eyes follow Angel as he picks up a newspaper as he passes a table and glances through it while he walks across the lobby. I get ready to dart into the elevator ahead of him.

"Uh, no messages for 217," the bellhop who doesn't like Angel says. Angel ignores him. The bellhop steps behind the counter as the manger rings the bell and hands something to another bellhop to take to room 515 then he returns to speaking to a well-dressed family of blacks. I watch him from the elevator which has just opened. I dart inside before Angel can see me. I can still hear what the manager is saying though.

"Yes, I understand what the sign says, but it's wrong," he says. "We really have no vacancies at the moment." The father sighs.

"You're kidding. The sign is wrong," he replies. "Sure it is. Come on." He puts his hand on one of the children's shoulders and they walk away. I shake my head in disgust.

"You're a real bastard," I mutter knowing that the manager can't hear me. I would have said it to his face but I have more pressing issues at the moment. Angel steps into the elevator, carrying the newspaper and a brown paper bag. The doors close. He doesn't seem to notice me leaning in a corner out of sight of the lobby. I know he's probably ignoring me on purpose. He's not stupid. He's probably already knows that I'm here.

"Hello Daddy," I say stepping up to him. "Miss me?" Angel drops the bag and the paper, grabs me by the throat and slams me into the elevator wall.

"What the hell are you doing here, Schyler?" he demands.

"I'll take that as a yes," I gasp. I don't need to breathe of course because I'm dead but Angel has crushed my windpipe and it hurts. It'll heal in a minute though.

"Answer the question," Angel snarls. I shove him away from me.

"I missed you all right?" I mutter. "Darla's not exactly the mothering type. Drusilla's not exactly the ideal sister and Spike can't make up his mind who he likes more. I can't even _push_ Dru without having Darla and Spike on my case. I just thought you missed me too." Angel's eyes softened a little. I knew I was his favorite out of all five of his "children". He had sired three before me and one after me.

Sarah was his first but from the stories I'd heard the little girl had been dusted by her father, Daniel Holtz, shortly after she was turned. His second was a man named Penn who Angel taught all he knew about killing. He wasn't around but I haven't heard anything about him being dusted. Third was Drusilla or Dru. He drove her insane before he turned her. She is also a gifted seer but I just think she's annoying and twisted. Fourth was me. He sired me the winter after I turned seventeen in London in 1890. His last "child" is a man named Sam Lawson. From what I've heard he was sired when Angel was sent to save an American crew on a Nazi submarine during World War II. I know this only because Spike was there. He was feeding off the Nazi and American crews and of course wearing the Nazi uniform. Swastika and all. Lawson was the only one Angel turned after he got his soul back. Lawson's not dead either but Angel told him that if he ever saw him again he'd kill him. So I have an older sister, an older brother, and a younger brother that I've never met. Which suits me just fine. I like being the favorite, the baby of the family.

"You _missed _me?" Angel asks in disbelief. I nod.

"After you sired me you were only around for eight years before those damn gypsies cursed you," I answer. "What's taking this elevator so long?" Just then the elevator dings and the doors open.

Angel picks up his bag and the paper and we walk to his room. He unlocks the door. Two guys come out of another room and they talk quietly. Angel and I watch them. They notice us and step apart. The younger one walks down the hall and the older one and Angel look at each other for a moment before going into their rooms. I follow Angel into his room and shut the door. Angel tosses the room key and the paper onto the table by the door. He pulls a bottle of blood from a blood bank out of the bag and sets it beside them. I make a face at it.

"_Cold_ blood?" I say giving him a look of disgust. "Don't you ever miss warm human blood? Don't you miss the screams and the begging? Don't you miss_ us_?" Angel fixes me with a hard stare. I look down at the carpet.

"Right," I say softly. "Gypsies, Romania, cursed you with a soul. I know. But _still_! Don't you miss us at all? I want us to be The Whirlwind again!" I stomp my foot like a small child.

"I don't get why you care so much!"

"Because I have a soul now," Angel says coldly. "It makes me relive every horrible thing I've done. Every person I've killed. That Gypsy girl..."

'They should have cursed Darla!" I shout. Angel blinks.

"Why?" he asks.

"Darla's the one who took her."

"She gave her to me though," Angel says. "I'm the one who killed her. Darla may have taken her but she gave the girl to me...as a gift. She was gift for me. Dumb as she was."

"I was a gift too," I snap. "In case you've forgotten. Darla gave me to you that night. What? Am I mistake now too?" Angel steps closer to me.

"You know I don't think of you that way," he says. "I'm sorry I did this to you but I love you all the same. I'm sorry for what I did to Drusilla. Sorrier than I can say. What I did to her was unforgivable. But I love her too. And Darla of course."

"If you still love me," I say slowly forcing the words out of my mouth through gritted teeth. "If you still love Dru and Darla _then why did you leave us_?" Angel sighs.

"I couldn't stay. Darla was disgusted with me. Drusilla had Spike. I didn't have a place there anymore."

"What about _me_, Angel?" I cry. "Darla doesn't really care about me! Drusilla is too messed up to care about me and Spike is still trying to decide whether he likes me like he likes Dru or not!"

"He better not," Angel growls. "He's not to touch you. He can have Dru. You're not his to have." I laugh.

"Too late," I sneer. "We've already made out quite a bit. Dru always comes in before we can do more though." Angel's eyes blaze with possessive anger.

"I'll kill him," he growls.

"Will not," I say. "You don't even know where they are."

"I could make you tell me." I shake my head.

"Nu-uh!" Angel sighs and looks down at me.

"So are you planning on staying with me?" I nod.

"I don't wanna go back to them. Can I stay? Please Daddy?" I give him my most innocent little girl look. Angel puts an arm around my shoulders.

"Of course." I smile and he hugs me.


	3. Judy

Angel lets go of me.

"Have you eaten?" he asks. I shake my head.

"I did see this one guy," I answer. "He was annoying me. He'd make the perfect..." I trail off when I see the look Angel's giving me.

"Here," he says handing me the bottle of blood. I stare at him.

"But...I don't want..." I stammer.

"Drink it if you know what's good for you." I sigh and open the bottle. I bring it to my lips and take a sip. I swallow hard.

"Yuck," I grumble. "Here, take it back. I can't drink this stuff." Angel takes the bottle and closes the cap.

"Get used to it. It's either this or catching rodents." I groan. He smiles a little and walks over to the ice bucket.

"I'm out of ice," he says. "I'm going down the hall to get more. Stay..." Before he can finish I walk out of the room ahead of him.

"Are you coming?" I ask.

"Or not," he mutters. "You never listen." I smile and we walk down the hall. We stop at the ice cooler and Angel starts to fill the bucket. I glance up and see a salesman standing further down the hall talking to someone hidden around the corner. I nudge Angel to get his attention. He looks over at the guy and pauses.

"Yes...Yes...Yes... I understand," the salesman says. "Of course." I hear a voice whispering to the guy.

"I am," he says. I look up at Angel but he has gone back to filling his bucket. He finishes and we look down the hall and see another guy banging on a door. When we look back the other way the salesman is gone. I look up atAngel wondering what's going on. He shrugs and we walk past the man, who's still in front of the door, and into Angel's room. Angel locks the door and I put the bottled blood into the bucket. We both sense another person in the room and I put the lid on the ice bucket before we turn around. A dark-haired young woman wearing a light floral dress steps out of the bathroom.

"I'll be finished here in just two shakes, sir," she says. I roll my eyes and look up at Angel as the woman goes to straighten the sheets.

"You're not the maid," Angel says. The woman glances at us looking nervous.

"I...I don't know what you mean," she replies. I tug on Angel's sleeve and tilt my head toward the woman. Asking silently, "Can I eat _her_?" Angel shakes his head and waves me away. I stick out my lower lip and go to sit on a chair, pouting.

"You're not a maid in this hotel. There is no cleaning trolley outside the door. Those sheets are dirty," he says stepping closer to her so that she quits fiddling with the sheets and looks even more nervous. "And you're the wrong color." The woman turns to face him.

"I'm sorry," she says. "Uhm, the door was open, and I was just... I...I didn't mean..."

"I've got nothing here to steal," Angel says cutting her off.

"No. I wasn't trying to steal from you. Honest. I can explain."

"Not interested," Angel snaps. "Just go." She takes a step back.

"Uhm...I can't." Angel grabs her arm and drags her towards the door. "I'll help you." She tries to resist. I watch all of this with a bored expression. I don't care why she's here. I just want to sink my teeth into her throat but Angel won't let me.

"Uhm...uhm...my...my boyfriend," she stammers. "He's kind of the jealous type..."

"Maybe you shouldn't go wandering into other men's rooms," Angel pointed out.

"Wait, please! He can't find me." There's a scratching noise coming from the door. We all look at it. The lock is slowly turning. Angel pushes the woman against the wall so that she'll be behind the door. I hop off the chair to go stand beside him. Then he opens the door. The guy that was banging on the door in the hallway is kneeling on the floor a lock-pick in his hands. Close up he looks like a PI. That's what he is, I guess.

"Where is she?" he asks. Angel and I just look at him. "Look pal, this really isn't something you want to get involved in. Especially not in front of your little girl here."

"That's true," Angel agrees. "Which is why you're gonna turn around and go away. And she's not little." I nod.

"I'm older than I look," I add.

"So turn around and go away," Angel repeats.

"Sorry, I can't do that, partner. Because I know you're hiding her in there."

"I'm not hiding anybody," Angel insists calmly. I nod.

"I'm the only girl in here mister," I say pretending once again to be innocent.

"Well are you sure your daddy's not hiding anybody in there?" the PI asks.

"I'm the only girl here. My daddy's not hiding anyone."

"No?" he asks looking up at Angel. "Then why don't you send her on out here. That way I don't have to come in there and get her."

"You're not coming in here," Angel says his voice getting lower. The PI gives a short laugh and takes off his hat.

"You won't mind if I just come in and take a look around then." He pulls his jacket aside to reveal a gun in a holster. We look at it and then back at the PI. Guns don't scare us. Then Angel lets go of the door. The PI puts his hat back on and saunters into the room. At which point Angel slams the door against his face. The PI stumbles back holding his nose, groaning in pain.

"Gee, I guess I do mind," Angel growls. The PI tries to go for his gun, but Angel twists his arm up, takes a hold of his ear, and escorts him down the hall to the elevator. The elevator opens just as they get there, revealing the bellhop and a cart of luggage. Angel throws the PI into the elevator.

"He's going down," Angel says. The bellhop, without saying a word pushes the down button as Angel walks back to his room. The woman and I are standing just outside of it.

"Your daddy sure is brave," she says to me. I shrug. Angel comes back to us.

"Gosh. I mean that was..." the woman stammers. "Gosh. Listen. I know we got off on the wrong foot. My name is Judy." Angel and I walk past her and he slams the door shut.

"You could have let me eat the guy," I snap as soon as the door is shut.

"I told you no," Angel growls.

"But I'm hungry!" I whine. He goes to the ice bucket and pulls out the bottle. He pours some of the blood into a glass and hands it to me.

"Drink up," he says.

"I _told_ you I don't drink dead blood," I snap.

"Then start catching rats," he says. "If you stay with me you drink the blood that I give you." I snatch the glass from him and go to sit on a chair.

"This stuff is gross," I grumble. Angel has a small smile on his face as he takes the bottle and another glass and comes to sit in the chair beside mine.

"I'm not being funny," I snap.

"Yes you are," he says laughing a little.

"No I'm not." He shakes his head and reaches into his pocket for a cigarette. From the next room we can hear a song playing.

_"Whoop-de-do, whoop-de-do, I hear a polka and my troubles are through..."_ Angel looks at the wall as he lights a cigarette.

"Well can I..." I begin.

"Don't even ask," Angel interrupts. He pours himself a glass of blood. I glare at the wall. The song is starting to get on mynerves. I take a sip of the blood and grimace. Angel is about to take a drink for his glass when we hear a gunshot form the next room. The song gets stuck and keeps repeating,

_"Got me higher than a kite...Got me higher than a kite...Got me higher than a kite..."_ Over and over. Angel only hesitates for less than a second before he sips his blood. I take another sip of mine, neither of us show any apparent emotions on our faces. I really don't care at all about the human. Angel seems to trying to ignore everyone.

"Can I now?" I ask after a moment.

"No."

"But he's dead. What point is there in letting good fresh blood go to waste?" Angel glances at me.

"Drink your blood, Schyler." I roll my eyes and take another sip from my glass.


	4. End of the World

Angel and I are standing outside the observatory the next night looking out at the valley below. Angel is smoking.

"Can I have one?" I ask.

"No," he replies. "They're bad for you."

"Oh yes," I say sarcastically. "Because something bad will _actually_ happen to me when it doesn't even matter because I'm already dead!" Angel chuckles.

"It's still a bad habit."

"Spike would let me," I grumbled.

"Well I'm not Spike. He shouldn't let you either." I scowl at him. Then Judy comes toward us. I know it's her because I can smell her.

"World ends in ten minutes," she says. Angel glances in her direction then ignores her. I ignore her completely. If I can't eat her then I have no interest in her.

"I saw you two over here. I hope you don't mind. I thought I'd say hello," she continues. Apparently she doesn't mind being ignored. That or she doesn't realize that that's what we're doing.

"Hello," she says and laughs a little. "Have you seen the show? You should. It makes whatever...problems we have seem insignificant in comparison. I mean, the entire universe explodes." Angel takes a drag from his cigarette. I glare at him because he's not sharing with me.

"Sounds exciting," he says without looking at Judy.

"Well, it's air-conditioned...and it's cheaper than going to the pictures," Judy explains. She takes a deep breath. "I had to get out of the hotel, after what happened."

"He come back?" Angel asks.

"Come back?"

"Your boyfriend."  
"Oh. No. I... mean the guy in 215. You know he killed himself."

"Yeah, I guess he did."

"And I didn't get to even have one little taste," I mutter under my breath too softly for Judy to hear but Angel does. He gives me a warning glance.

"Can you imagine that wallpaper being the _last_ thing you see before you go?" Judy asksnot noticing what's going on between me and Angel. Angel shrugs.

"Maybe it was the wallpaper that drove him to it," he replies.

"Yeah," Judy agrees. "I sort of hate it there. Well, I...I guess it's nicer than...some places."

"It's a place," I say. Judy steps closer to us.

"Listen, uh...I know you didn't want to before, but...you helped me. You did. And I...I needed to thank you for that," she says. Angel looks down. I roll my eyes.

_You're not going to get him to ask you out,_ I think. _He's got me. He doesn't need you._ Angel turns to look at her over his shoulder for the first time.

"You're gonna miss the end of the world," he says. He turns away from her again.

"Right," Judy says softly. She waits a minute then turns and walks toward the observatory. Then she stops and turns back.

"I'll see you around," she adds. Then she leaves. Angel turns to look after her.

"Right," he mutters.

"No," I snap. "You won't. If I can't eat a human you should be able to be friends with one!"

"Who's the dad here?" he asks. "I can do what I want."

"And I can't?"

"No. Because I'm older than you so I make the rules."

"Well the rules are dumb," I say. Angel smiles and ruffles my hair.


	5. Trapped

Angel and I walk up the stairs behind a group of people. They're talking about the guy who killed himself. They all seem to think that he was murdered. I roll my eyes and look up at Angel.

"Why can't we just tell everyone that we heard him shoot himself?" I ask him as we walk down the all to his room.

"Because then everyone will wonder why we didn't try to get help." I shrug.

"If you would have let me eat him maybe then they wouldn't be thinking up such stupid rumors," I grumble.

Angel glares down at me and I shrug again. We stop at the door to his room and he starts to unlock it. He opens it and we are about to go it when another door a little ways down opens and Judy leans into the hall.

"Hey," she calls. "Can you come in here for a second?"

Angel and I step into her room and I close the door behind me.

"Did you hear?" Judy asks.

"Hear what?" Angel asks.

I sit down on a chair and stare at the ceiling.

_Hear what he says,_ I think. _What has** everyone** in this blasted hotel been talking about? _

Judy pulls out a cigarette. I consider asking her for one but Angel would just tell her not to give it to me.

"The guy in 215...it wasn't a suicide. He was murdered." Judy says. I bite my lip to keep from laughing.

"I don't think so," Angel replies.

"No, it's true," Judy insists. "Which means there is going to be _police_. And...and questions, and...and I though that you'd want to know, in case, maybe..." She stops and laughs nervously. "I'm not implying that _you've_ got something to hide but..."

"_Everyone_ here's got something to hide," I say. "Even us."

Angel looks back at me. Warning me to shut my mouth. I giggle and shrug again.

"Yeah," Judy agrees. "I just figured that I owed you two a heads up, on account of what you did for me before. So..."

"Thanks," Angel says.

Judy tries to light her cigarette but the match won't light. Then it breaks so she just gives up. She still has her back to us.

"I guess if we left now it would look, I don't know, bad, huh?" she asks.

"That all depends. This have anything to do with that _PI_ I tossed out of here?" Angel asks.

Judy turns and looks up at him.

"You knew he wasn't my boyfriend," she says.

Angel flicks his lighter for her and she uses it to light her cigarette.

"I had a hunch," Angel replies.

I laugh.

"I had more than a hunch," I say.

Judy sighs.

"I'm pretty sure he works for my former employers, the City Trust Bank of Salina, Kansas. I was a teller there."

She goes over to her bed and pulls a bag from under it.

"I think maybe they want this back."

She opens it and Angel and I look inside. It's full of rolled bank notes, 1000 marked on each of the wrappers that we can see.

"I haven't spent any of it. Not a dime. I...I can't even bring myself to touch it."

"Why take it?" Angel asks.

"I don't know. I was angry...and I...I guess I panicked. I mean, things were going so well! I...I loved this job, and I loved this guy," she said. "We were going to get married, and they found out about me at the bank, and so they fired me. And then Peter found out why and he broke it off and I just couldn't go back to where I came from. I just couldn't. So I took this and I...I just ran."

Neither of us say anything.

"Aren't gonna ask me why they fired me?"

"Why'd they fire you?" we ask in unison.

"Because I'm not what I say I am. I've been passing since I was 15 years old," Judy answers.

"Passing?" Angel asks.

Judy nods.

"For white. My mother was colored, my father...I didn't even know him! My blood isn't pure," she explains. "It's _tainted_."

Angel steps closer to her smiling slightly.

"It's just blood, Judy," he says. "It...it's all just blood."

I laugh again. Judy and Angel look at me.

"He's right," I say laughing harder. "Blood can't be _tainted_. It's just blood. It's all the same!"

"Nobody believes that!" Judy snaps "Not even my _mother's family_. I'm not one thing or the other. I'm nothing."

"I know what that's like," Angel says.

I look up at him. Judy gets quiet and then puts a hand on her stomach.

"Yes. Yes, I am," she says. "I am something."

She sinks into a chair and looks up at us.

_She's lost it,_ I think.

"I'm a thief!" she cries.

She gasps.

"I've never stolen anything before in my life. It's just...god, the things that they called me."

"Fear makes people do stupid things," Angel says.

Judy shakes her head.

"It was stupid. And I wish I'd never done it."

"I didn't mean you. I meant your former employers. They were afraid. That's why they fired you."

"What am I going to do? I'm trapped!"

Angel shakes his head now and I roll my eyes. He cares about her! This is...this is _disgusting!_

"You're not trapped," Angel says.

He walks over to the bag of money. Judy gets up.

"I am! Look, if I leave now it'll look too suspicious, but if I stay here and the cops find this..."

"They're not gonna find it," Angel insists.

Judy stares at him.

"'Cause we're gonna help you."

Angel puts a hand on her back and leads us out of the room, the bag in his other hand.

"What'd you mean _we_?" I ask as I follow them.

Angel leads us down into the basement.

"I guess I'll be okay down here. It's only for a few days. Just until the cops are gone," she says.

Angel looks down at her.

"Judy, there are no cops," he says.

"Just stupid rumors," I add. "But no cops."

"Well, not yet," Judy argues. "Oh god, I can't go to prison. It's just...I can't. Just the thought of being confined, trapped. It would be like death. No. No. It would be something worse than death. It'd be...it'd be like...like being buried alive!"

She's pacing and babbling while Angel hides the bag in the ceiling behind some pipes.

I hear some demonic whispering. Angel must hear it too because he comes to stand beside me.

"I want you to go back to your room and stay there," he says to Judy as we take a few steps deeper into the basement. "There is something in this hotel, something that's making people crazy."

"Hey, do you think that if...if somehow...the money ended up on the banks doorstep, and they saw that I didn't spend any of it, you think they'd call off that detective? Maybe I could be free of this whole thing," Judy asks.

Angel and I keep looking around, listening to the whispering.

"Maybe," Angel says softly.

"I mean, there is such a thing as forgiveness, right?" Judy replies.

Angel and I look at her.


	6. Denver's Bookstore

Angel and I go downtown later that night.

"What're we doing?" I ask as we near a bookstore.

"We need books on how to get that demon out of the hotel," Angel replies.

"_Why_?" I cry.

Angel doesn't answer.

I roll my eyes and hurry to catch up.

We walk into the bookstore and over to the counter.

The owner is sitting, listening to a radio program with this fake laugh-track on it.

I roll my eyes and look up at Angel.

"They keep calling her a zany redhead," the owner mutters. "Could be a brunette for all_ I_ can tell. I guess I'll just have to take their word for it."

He looks up and notices us standing there.

"You Denver?" Angel asks.

"No other cat but me," Denver answers. "What can I do you for?"

"We need information on demons."

I roll my eyes.

"_You_ do, you mean," I mutter. "I really could care less."

Denver gets up and walks around the counter.

"Do you now, daddy?" he asks Angel.

I glare up at him.

"He's _my_ dad," I snap.

Denver laughs.

"It's just word kiddo. I don't mean to say that he's my dad."

I continue to glare at him.

He would make such a _good_ dinner. But no! Mister I-have-a soul won't let me kill just one little human!

"We need everything you got on possessing entities, demonic suggestions, exorcisms, cleansing rituals," Angel says ignoring the conversation between me and Denver.

"Try this one," Denver says.

He picks up a book and tosses it to Angel.

As Angel catches it, smoke begins to rise from his hands.

It's a Holy Bible.

Angel drops it and stares at Denver wearing his vamp-face.

Denver quickly pulls out a cross and a wooden stake out of one of the bookshelves and hurries through the apparently empty store to the open front door.

"That's right. Run coward of the night!" he shouts causing several people to stare at him. "And tell your buddies I'm thinking very seriously about putting down my bedroll right here, so you bastards can't just walk in here uninvited! You got any idea who you're dealing with?"

Angel comes up behind him and grabs him in a neck lock.

"Do _you_?" I sneer leaning around so he can see that's I'm vamp-faced too.

"You too?" Denver squeaks.

I nod and grin thinking of how fast his heat is beating right now.

"I know you got a reputation, that's why we're here," Angel says. "Now, it's been a long time since I've opened a vein, but I'll do it you pull any more of this van Helsing jr. crap with me. And this one here is willing to kill anyone. She doesn't have any morals when it comes to humans. She'll kill you faster than you can blink. Are we clear? I want the books _in the back_."

Denver nods and Angel let's him go.

Denver takes us into the back room which is filled with books.

Denver is nervous.

I can't stop grinning.

I like nervous and scared humans.

"So you were what, about my age when you where made?" Denver asks Angel.

Angel shrugs.

"I don't know. How old are you?" Angel asks.

"Just north of thirty."

Angel looks offended.

"No!" he cries. "This Thesulac demon, how do I kill it?"

"You don't. You run away from it."

I laugh.

"_Angelus_?" I cry. "Run away from a demon! Never in a million years! Well unless you count _Darla..._"

Angel glares down at me and I shut my mouth.

"There's got to be a way to kill it," he says to Denver.

"Well, first you got to make it fat...corporeal. But that only happens after it's had a nice big feed...or if you raise it, but that's tricky and dangerous."

"How?" Angel asks.

"The incantation's there in the book, but you're gonna need an Orb of Ramjarin. Now I have one I can let you have for cheap..."

"For _free_," Angel says.

Denver goes to get the orb.

"For free," he corrects himself setting the orb next to Angel. "Uh, you'll also need sacred herbs...divining powder and...something really big to hit it with."

He adds the herbs and powder to the bag.

"And that'll kill it?" I ask looking skeptical.

If this was something we were supposed to run away from I doubted _hitting_ it would do much.

Denver is looking around his shelves.

"Well, it might," he answers. "Wouldn't hurt to have a lightning strike, you know, finger of heaven kind of thing. But short of that I'd go with something big and heavy."

He pulls out a fighting ax.

Angel takes it from him.

"Pack it up," he says.

"Two vampires wanting to slay a demon in order to help some grubby humans?" Denver says as he packs up the supplies. "I just don't get it."

Angel grabs the bag.

"To be honest, I'm not sure I do either."

"Neither do I," I agree. "And I'm just following him. I'm not helping."

Denver nods and we walk out.


	7. Hanged

Angel and I enter the hotel carrying the ax and a paper bag.

I notice that the lobby is deserted.

A door closes and we looks around at the door but there's no one there.

"Where is everyone?" I ask.

Angel shrugs.

"C'mon," he growls.

We walk to the elevator and get in.

The elevator takes us up to our floor and we step out of the elevator.

The far hallway end is full of angry people clustered around Judy.

"What's going...?" I begin but Angel quiets me.

He looks down the hall intently.

"What gives you the right to hide out up here?" an old man asks.

"Please stop it, you're hurting me," Judy cries trying to wiggle free of their grip.

"We're gonna do more than that if you don't start telling us everything," a woman, I think she's an actress, sneers.

"We know about you, missy," a guy who I think is an actor says.

"The name you registered under is a fake! We have proof!" the manager shouts.

Angel and I walk toward them slowly, passing two guys leaning against the walls of the hallway.

"Who knows what else she's lied about, the little slut!" the actress says.

"I didn't mean anything, please, I'm sorry!" Judy sobs.

"Now you're sorry! I thought you didn't have anything to be sorry for!" the old man shouts.

Angel drops the ax and I drop the bag and we start walking faster as the commotion escalates.

I don't want Angel to be fighting this group alone.

Because I know that's what he's going to do.

"Stop lying!" the actress shouts.

"Come on!" the manager shouts.

"It wasn't me! It wasn't me!" Judy sobs.

She sees us and breaks free of the mob, tears streaming down her face.

She takes a couple of running steps towards us.

"It was them!" she sobs.

We stop dead.

"Look in their room!" Judy continues. "Go ahead, look! They've got blood! They've monsters!"

Everyone goes silent staring at us.

I inch closer to Angel.

The bellhop and the PI come up behind us.

The bellhop has our bag and the PI has our ax.

"What kind of maniacs are you?" the PI asks.

As Angel turns to look at him he hits Angel in the chin with the handle of the ax then smashes it into his back, knocking him down.

"Angel!" I scream trying to get to him.

Someone grabs me and pins my arms behind my back.

"_No_!" I scream struggling against whoever it is. "_Angel_! Daddy! _Daddy_! _Do something_! Fight them! _Kill_ them! _Kill them all_!"

The person holding me throws me to the floor beside Angel.

Everyone jumps on us, hitting us and screaming at us while Judy stands there, staring, her face wet with tears.

_What're you crying for?_ I think angrily. _It's not as if they're hitting you now is it!_

Angel and I make no attempt to fight back. I would except I know I can't beat them on my own.

Angel just looks at Judy.

I look too but I'm fuming and I know she knows it.

Then her form slowly blurs before my eyes as the mob continues to beat on me.

The mob is still in a frenzy as they drag Angel and I out onto the hallway above the back of the lobby.

They push us up against the railing.

Something about this scares me and I start to cry.

"Daddy!" I sob looking helplessly up at Angel. "Daddy! Daddy please...please make them stop! Before they find Dru and Spike!"

I choke down another sob as I realize I'm thinking of another mob.

Back before Angel got his soul.

Back when he was still Angelus.

He, Darla, and I had been captured by a mob.

I was still very young then so the fire and shouting and ropes had scared me.

I shake my head.

_They don't have any..._ I think but the thought trails off when I see someone with two ropes.

The bellhop hurries halfway down the steps to get a better view.

"Get them over there!" the manager shouts.

The bellhop laughs.

"We got you now!" he shouts slapping the banister. "Come on! String 'em up! String 'em up!"

Somebody throws the ropes over a rafter and slips the noose at one end around Angel's throat.

Then they take the other one and put it around my throat.

Then they tie the other ends to the railing.

The whole crowd keeps screaming encouragement.

Angel looks over at Judy, who is still sobbing as the others yell and scream for our deaths.

They set us on top of the railing.

"_Daddy..._" I moan.

Angel looks over at me.

"No more crying," he whispers. "Don't let them see you cry anymore."

I nod and blink to stop the tears.

I'm not going to die from this. I'm already dead for God's sake!

"Good. Push 'em!" the bellhop shouts. "Come on! Push 'em out! Push 'em out!"

The PI and the old man push Angel off the banister while the actress and the actor push me.

We drop until we hit the end of the ropes.

Judy lets out a scream while the mob cheers and the bellhop laughs.

Suddenly they all fall silent, staring.

Judy keeps sobbing.

"Yeah! Swing, you freaks!" the bellhop laughs. "Yeah, that's right, you had that coming!"

The crowd silently and quickly melts away as the ropes with Angel and I with oureyes closed, at the ends of them slowly stop swinging.

The manager leans over the railing.

"Oh, my lord," he whispers. "What have we done?"

"What?" the bellhop asks still chewing his gum.

Judy turns and walks away, still sobbing.

"What's wrong?" the bellhop calls hurrying up the stairs. "I don't get it. Come on!"

He stands next to the manager, who's still staring down at us.

"Where is everybody going? Come on!"

The bellhop looks down at us as the manager walks off.

"It's just a..." he stammers. "What do you call..."

He looks around and sees that he's alone and then runs off.

As soon as he is gone my eyes snap open.

I take a hold of the rope above my head and pull myself up, pull the noose from around my neck and drop down to the lobby floor, catching myself on my hands.

Angel lands beside me and I rush into him, almost knocking me over.

"I hate mobs," I whimper.

Angel puts a hand on the back of my head.

"You're all right," he whispers.

As we straighten up the air on the stairs begins to shiver and bulge and the Thesulac becomes corporeal.

It's an ugly gray faced demon in a long hooded cape with tentacles sticking out from under it like a fringe.


	8. Take Them All

"Well, I don't know about you," the demon says and laughs. "But I'm stuffed! God I love people! Don't' you?"

He laughs again.

"They feed me their worst and I kind of serve it right back to them, and the fear and prejudice turns to certainty and hate, and I take another bite and mmm-mmm-mmm!"

Another laugh.

"What a beautiful, beautiful dance!" he says ashe moves down the landing toward us. "Oh, you got your feelings hurt, didn't you? See now what happens when you stick your neck out for them? They throw a rope around it!"

We start walking toward the door.

_**I **wasn't helping any of them!_ I think. _Just Angel...He's the only one **I'll** ever help. At least the only one **here**. _

"And you thought you'd made a friend," the demon says speaking only to Angel now. Maybe that's who was speaking to all along. "News flash! You _had_!"

Angel stops and I almost slam into him.

I look up at him.

Neither of us turn around.

"That's what made her the _yummiest_ morsel of all," the demon continues.

He laughs again.

"You reached her, buddy! Restored her faith in people. Without you she would have been just another appetizer. But you plumped her up good! Now, she's a meal that's gonna last me a lifetime!"

He laughs again (which is really starting to get on my nerves) and drifts closer to our backs.

I tense feeling the demon's tentacles swish close to my back.

"Hey, you know what? There is an entire hotel here just full of tortured souls that could really use your help. What do you say?"

I hear some indistinct whispering, then nothing but the sound of the demons tentacles whipping back and forth as it waits for Angel's answer.

"Take them all," Angel says without turning around.

The demon begins to laugh and repeats Angel's 'take them all,' while Angel and I walk out the front of the hotel.


	9. Goodbye

Angel and I walk down the street together.

"What're you going to do now?" he asks.

We stop and I look up at him.

"I'm going back to Darla and the others," I reply. "It's the only thing I _can_ do. There's nothing for me here. I mean...there's _you_ but I can't live like you Angel...I _can't_..."

I look at him apologetically and shake my head.

"I know," he says smiling slightly down at me.

I smile up at him.

"Goodbye," he says.

I nod.

"Goodbye Daddy," I say.

I turn and walk away.

"Goodbye Angelus," I whisper knowing that I will never have him back.

Knowing I will never get to be with him again.

Knowing The Whirlwind will never come back.

I sigh and walk on.

I'll find Darla and the others soon and I'll get to feed properly.

But still...

_I'll miss youAngel_.


End file.
